Consumers (i.e., shippers and receivers of freight, “shippers”) and Providers (i.e., carriers of freight and third party logistics providers, referred to as “carriers”) of transportation services have a need to communicate and manage data, which is created in the course of transacting with one another. The data sets managed by shippers and carriers are distinct but do have a significant amount of overlap, particularly in the data describing loads to be transported. A “shipment” is commonly understood to be a collection of goods to be transported which share a common point of origin, a common destination, and a common ship date, whereas a “load” is understood to be a collection of one or more shipments.
Conventional applications addressing the needs of both the consumer and provider have typically fit into one of the following two general categories; that is, either internet marketplaces or role-biased applications, which are commonly operated by shippers and/or carriers who may or may not allow limited network access for trading partners.
There are many vendors of role-biased applications designed for either shippers (e.g., supply chain management and execution) or carriers (e.g., dispatch and operations). The marketplace approach is focused on making a market and predicated on the concept of buyers and sellers. A buyer (e.g., shipper) is responsible for creating load records that describe the service they are seeking to purchase. A plurality of sellers (e.g., carriers) responds to the requests for service with a price-bid and/or, in the case where the price is agreed upon, a willingness to perform the service. Sellers may also post their capability to provide certain services. The main objective of the marketplace approach is the discovery of an opportunity to do business and an agreement to buy and sell a service.
The marketplace approach focuses on a process where shippers enter load-data for goods which they need transported while carriers browse the loads and inquire about and/or bid on the loads. The marketplace requires a critical mass of shippers and carriers to be effective. The management of data is secondary to the function of making a market. This treatment tends to reduce the effectiveness of the data for transportation management and communication functions.
The role-biased application approach is software designed to accomplish transportation management functions and focused on the tools needed for a particular role in the transaction. In common practice, shippers buy or subscribe to supply chain execution and logistics solutions that are suited to the creation of data from the shipper's standpoint and most often include inventory, vendor, warehouse, and shipment management modules. The role-biased approach is inherently designed to increase utility for the user on one side of the shipper/carrier transaction, but not both. Typically, load records are initiated by whichever party acts in the role the system is biased towards.
These systems may allow carriers to contribute status data on the loads they are handling through web browsers, web services, or messaging systems such as one known as EDI. Carriers buy or subscribe to software solutions that are designed to manage transport operations and usually include modules focused on load data, customer data and the management of resources such as carriage equipment (e.g., vehicles, trailers, containers) and other carriers that they may sub-contract with. Systems such a these may allow shippers to make service requests and/or inquire about load status.
Some disadvantages of the role-biased approach include availability of interactivity, redundancy of work, integration, and training issues. For example, even if one assumes that some degree of interactivity is provided, each participant must still maintain redundant data on each of their respective systems. Somehow integrating and eliminating the redundant data is problematic for all of the commonly known reasons such as interoperability, data structures, data types, and network infrastructure. Moreover, training becomes an issue when participants are forced to learn how to operate a different system for each trading partner.
The principal means of overcoming the foregoing disadvantages of conventional applications has been the reliance on adhoc communication means such as telephone, facsimile, and email communications between trading partners. Moreover, when a shipper and a carrier have agreed to form a relationship, the actions of either party in the maintenance of their load records does not contribute to the data available to their counterpart.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for improved techniques for transportation services applications addressing the needs of both the consumer and provider. It would be desirable for such an improved application to substantially reduce or eliminate the data redundancy inherent in the role-biased approach, similarly, lessen or the need of a critical mass of providers to be effective, as is inherent in the marketplace approach. It would be further desirable if the management of data plays an important role in making the market, thereby improving the effectiveness of the data for transportation management and communication functions. Another desirable capability would be to contribute to the transactional data available to their counterpart when a shipper and a carrier have agreed to form a relationship.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.